Sunday, April 22, 2012

We’re half-way through the school holidays and this morning my six-year-old was bored and in a bad mood. Whatever I suggested, he didn’t like it. I decided to forget about pleasing him and do something I wanted to do instead. The weather was perfect for taking headstone photos so I took my reluctant, grumpy boy to a local cemetery.

I have both and iPhone and an android tablet, both with the BillionGraves app installed. Before we got to the cemetery, I checked that my devices were charged, the apps were up to date, and I could still log in to BillionGraves on either device. All was in good working order.

I also checked the settings on both devices. Most importantly, I checked the setting to prevent photos from uploading immediately. I wanted to let my boy try taking some pictures but I didn’t want the pictures to upload if the photos weren’t acceptable.

Once we got to the cemetery I picked a section where there would be no tidying of headstones or plaques required. I gave my boy the iPhone, which I have found is easier to handle for headstone photos, gave him some basic instructions about what the pictures needed to include and how to line them up, looked over his shoulder as he took the first few, then left him to it as we photographed alternate rows. That was his suggestion, but what I had intended we should do. Smart kid!

He did great! He seemed to enjoy the activity – wanted to stay longer and take more pictures but we were out of time. He’ll deny later that he enjoyed it or said any of that… but he did. It was only a short trip. It had taken us a while to leave the house (someone didn’t like any of his socks…) and I hadn’t planned to stay for long anyway, not knowing how the outing would turn out.

Later at home I reviewed the photos and culled the ones that didn’t have useful information. I cut out a few of mine where I had my finger on the lens (whoops! I did say the tablet was more awkward for photos), a few of his where he took an interest in a grave decoration or the scenery generally, and occasional duplicates where one or the other of us tried to get a better shot. Between us we had a total of about 70 usable photos. Only 20 of them were mine!

So there you have it, proof that BillionGraves is so easy to use, a six-year-old could do it.

Read this the other week but didn't have time to comment. I liked that you engaged your son in this process and even more that he enjoyed it. I downloaded billion graves on my android phone but it doesn't work properly -have been meaning to upgrade my memory (and the phone's!)

This is such a great story. I Love the Billion Graves Project and wonderful to hear about the next generation being involved. Maybe a future genie? I dont have much time free but spend two lunchbreaks each week at the local cemetary uploading graves. It's all I can do just now.